New Year resolution: Financial resolution

No doubt many have made resolutions at the beginning of the year. You can make these resolutions to encompass all aspects of your life that directly and indirectly affect your finances for you to be that complete person you ought to be.

•Resolve in your spending: Resolve to be judicious in your spending to achieve your set down goals for the year. Avoid the usual regrets of “I can’t account for my income and spending”.

•Resolve in your insurance policies: Have you considered to be resolute about your insurance policies? Are you on health insurance? If not consider having one as you cannot achieve any concrete thing in life because ‘health is wealth”. Consider having an insurance for your car so as to ease yourself the stress in case of eventuality.

•Resolve to eat healthy: Resolve to eat to live and not live to eat. Eat purposefully, carefully selecting your diet to achieve the benefit of healthy meals bearing in mind that you are what you eat. Eating healthy does not necessarily means having an expensive meal. Carefully selecting what goes into your mouth will keep you away from the hospital and help you achieve you goals with strength and vigour.

•Resolve to have a financial mentor: You can have a financial mentor or role model you look up to and follow by observation or through books. This will spur up your desire to be financially successful in life as you study their failures and successes, picking out the ones that will help you succeed in your endeavours.

•Resolve to make a will: Making a will seems to be a very difficult task because many people consider making a will facilitating a death warrant. However death is inevitable and warrants one to prepare for it. It may not come in the next twenty years and should be handled like any other plans such as planning for retirement . Take a cue from biblical king Solomon who questions who enjoys his wealth while he is gone, if the person will be wise or foolish. Think of the future of your children and wife. Do you want them to suffer while you are gone. Moreover you know the capacity of every child, what each can handle, would you want your wealth to be squandered and your dependents to suffer while you are gone?

•Resolve to save: Resolve to save no matter how you do it or how much you save just resolve to save. If savings seems to be difficult for you it can be automated to a designated savings account. Another discouraging factor to some people is that they give excuse that they do not earn enough to save. No matter how little your earnings may be ensure you stash a little and before you know it your hundreds of Naira will grow up to thousands of Naira.

•Resolve to pay your bills on time: Resolve to pay your bills on time never postponing any payment no matter how minute you consider it to be. Little amounts unpaid can add up and become a burden to you. Moreover paying up bills late may attract penalties of extra fine in some cases which will mean extra cost for you that should be avoided at all cost.

•Resolve to organize your finance: Book keeping and accounting is not just the exclusive reserve of organizations and businesses. As an individual you can start up the year by resolving to organize your finances. Organize your income, expenditures, assets, liability and plans in a book form to give your financial life a definite direction this year.

Hope Ikwe